Youngsters
by frustrated456
Summary: The holidays are when people come together. A lot can happen when you have a crush, mistletoe and horrible parents. - Quick Christmas oneshot - Young Knouge. T for alcohol consumption


~Christmas Fic~

~KnucklesxRouge (Youngsters)~

Okay, I felt the need to put something down here because I haven't written in a long time. So, a oneshot about Christmas. Maybe it's OOC maybe it's not. Featuring Rouge and Knuckles as kids. Hope you enjoy!

Rouge the Bat, age seven, rubbed her eyes groggily. Then, she sat up with an ear- to- ear smile. Today was every child's favorite time of the year: Christmas morning.

She hurriedly dashed to her dresser, undressing and flinging the articles of clothing randomly about the room. She dug in the top drawer before finding what she was searching for. She yanked a sparkly red and green dress from the array of clothes inside. She pulled it over her head, the collar sticking on her head for a moment before slowly sliding over her muzzle. The cool silk chilled her warm fur, giving her goose bumps.

'_Ah, I love that feeling. Feels… Fresh.' _She thought to herself.

She slipped on a pair of white stockings and went to the bathroom. When she entered, she went straight up to the mirror and picked her brush up off the counter. She brushed out the little amount of bangs she had (that were later cut) and the rest until her hair shone and fell just the right way. Then, she dashed down the stairs, into the kitchen. The young bat glanced at the clock on the stove. Nine- thirty. At ten- thirty, her family would be going over to a friend of her parents' house for brunch. She didn't remember much about them, except that, their son Knuckles, was a friend of hers. And, she'd never say so but, she had a crush on him for a year or two.

Rouge grabbed a small, pink, plastic bowl from the cabinet and filled it with her favorite cereal and some milk. She sat down at the table with her spoon and began eating, not bothering to stop and enjoy the flavor. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the many presents under the tree. Remembering her purpose in coming down, she rinsed the bowl and put it in the sink; again running for the restroom. Rouge brushed her teeth and made for her parent's bedroom.

The white haired bat burst into her mother and father's room and jumped on the bed; yelling,

"Mom, Dad! Get up! Its Christmas!"

"Mm, Rouge, honey settle down," Mom moaned.

"Five more minutes!" Dad grumbled.

Rouge leapt off the bed, into the air. She flew around them until Mother slowly rose from bed. Rouge glided down beside her mom but, continued to pester Father.

"Da-ad! Get! Up!" She tugged on his sleeve until he eventually pulled himself up and out.

"Yeah, yeah, give us a minute, sweetheart." He responded, patting her head.

Eventually, her parents met her downstairs where she sat by the Christmas tree eagerly.

The family opened presents and made new memories over the next hour; enjoying yet another peaceful holiday season.

Knuckles the Echidna, age eight, woke up at ten forty- five. He was shaken awake gently by his mother, who said softly to him,

"Knuxie… Wake up… Rouge and her family are coming over…They'll arrive in fifteen minutes… Oh, get up already, its Christmas morning!"

The last part of her sentence jolted him awake with realization.

'_Aw, man. I have to get up because of a girl? At least it's someone I like…_' He thought and blushed.

"Come on, go freshen up. You wanna look nice, don't you? For Rouge…"

"Alright, Mom! Stop messing with me!"

He rolled off the bed and crawled to the closet after shooing away his mother. He kept it simple: a pair of black jeans and a green shirt that read: Gao! Gao!* and depicted a red T- Rex. Then, he walked slowly to the bathroom. There, he straightened his spines and washed his face. For breakfast, he ate a package of strawberry Pop Tarts and some milk. All his preparations for present- opening were completed in seven minutes—to be exact. That left about eight minutes to go through his presents.

Rouge sat in the car, holding a gift she got for Knuckles. It was a Steam gift card for twenty dollars. She knew he was quite the gamer and needed some money for a new one coming out soon. She smiled happily at its thin wrapping and thought of the letter she included inside. It was only a little 'Merry Christmas' thing but, at the bottom, she drew a moderately good picture of the two of them sitting by a Christmas tree. The car bumped to a stop; she looked out the window to see they had arrived.

_Ding! Dong! _Knuckles stood as the doorbell sounded and ran to open it. The opened door revealed Rouge, looking adorable as ever, and her parents.

"Oh, hi," Knuckles smiled sheepishly,

"Mom, Dad! Rouge is here!"

Knuckles' parents were soon letting in Rouge's and chatting it up. Rogue turned to Knuckles,

"Hi, Knuckles."

"Hi. Let's go to my room," He held her hand and led her to his bedroom. The room was well furnished. It had many different game consoles and a high definition television. He also had his own computer which sat in a corner, close to the bed. He had assorted holiday decorations throughout the room and even a jar of candy canes.

Rouge took a candy cane from the container and sat cross- legged on his bed,

"So… what'd you get for Christmas?"

"Well, some toys and video games. You?"

"Clothes, shoes, books, movies, a couple of dolls… Nothing out of the usual."

"Cool, well-" Knuckles was interrupted by his mother yelling,

"Knuckles, Rouge! Food!"

The children sprinted out of the room shouting 'Food!'

Everyone ate an assortment of covered dishes such as hash brown casserole and egg casserole. There were muffins and fruit salad and many festive cookies. For desert various cakes also accompanied the cookies. The two children drank an exotic tea called Kinder Tee* from Germany while the adults enjoyed traditional eggnog.

While the parents continued to socialize, Knuckles and Rouge went back to Knuckles' room. They found someone had mischievously hung mistletoe above the hall entrance. The kids walked right underneath it and wouldn't have noticed if Knuckles' father hadn't pointed it out.

"Look who got caught under the mistletoe! Go on, kiss her, Knuxie!" He teased. The other three joined in saying how 'cute' they were and to 'follow tradition' and 'do it already'.

"Mom, Dad! No!" Rouge shouted.

"Shut up!" Knuckles yelled, blushing furiously.

"Don't be weird!" Rouge shrieked again.

"Are you man enough, son?" His father continued.

Rouge had just about enough of this. She turned to Knuckles and gave him an innocent peck on the lips,

"Now be quiet and leave us alone!" She grabbed Knuckles hand and sped back to his room. The somewhat tipsy adults 'Ooh' and 'Aah'ed before finally going back to their conversations.

Back in the room, Rouge sat on his bed, hugging her knees, and crying softly.

"Jeez. Mom and Dad are so embarrassing! Why won't they just stop?"

"It's okay. Grown- ups are weird sometimes," He sat next to her awkwardly.

"No, they always do something like that. I bet it's that weird alco- something"

"You mean alcohol? Yeah, I think I heard the word 'drunk' used to describe someone who drank alcohol."

"Are your mom and dad like that too?" Rouge asked.

"Awkward and embarrassing? Yeah…" He replied.

"Oh, right," She rubbed her nose and pulled out a small package about the size of his hand,

"This is for you. Merry Christmas."

He took the package from her and unwrapped it,

"A gift card for twenty bucks! That's how much I needed to buy "The Walking Dead"! Thanks!"

"There's something else too" He opened a piece of paper that was folded behind his gift,

"Oh, it's me and you."

"Do you like it?" She looked at him hopefully.

"Yeah, thanks again," He nodded.

He seemed to remember something and walked over to his desk. He pulled a jingly object from the top drawer. He walked back to her and handed over a pink charm bracelet. It was a simple silver chain with heart charms and pink beads.

"Oh, it's so pretty! Did you make it yourself?" She exclaimed; putting it on.

He nodded slowly as if it would damage his reputation.

"Thank you Knuckles," She leaned over and hugged him. After several moments, he returned the embrace.

"And that was our best Christmas!" Present- day Knuckles declared.

"I still have that bracelet too," Rouge added.

"Quite the holiday," Shadow smirked at the echidna and bat.

"Be nice!" Amy poked his side.

"Well, we're going to bed," said Rouge.

"Merry Christmas everyone!" said Knuckles

YAY! I started running out of ideas here so, be nice! Merry ChristHanuKwanz as I like to say! Before you argue with my parent logic, **YES** some parents are actually that mean. They think they're funny too!


End file.
